Docking between multiple disjointed structures can be a problem that occurs in engineering systems that must dynamically change their structures for various purposes. Human-operated docking is widely seen in daily life, and can be as simple as changing a blade in a razor or as complex as docking one spacecraft to another.
Autonomous docking, however, may have the ability to enable all reconfigurable actions, and may be able to perform frequent docking/undocking routines and in different system configurations and structures. Further, autonomous docking may need to foolproof and support all of the interconnection needs of the system—from structural load bearing to communications and power sharing.
Among applications of autonomous docking, one that may benefit from autonomous docking may be the self-reconfigurable or metamorphic robot. Such robots may be made of many autonomous coupling modules that self-rearrange their connections to change the robot's morphology (e.g., shape and size) in order to meet environmental and other demands of a given task. Such robots may be useful in applications that benefit from or require the use of robots with different topologies. A metamorphic robot could be a “crab” to climb over rubble and then smoothly morph to a “snake” to slither down between the stones to locate a person or some artifact. It may become a ball to roll down a hill, or transform a leg into a gripper to perform a grasping operation. Coupling modules are usually interconnected to make a chain or tree of modules, but rings and lattices are supported also. The task of autonomous docking in these robots may be intricate and challenging. A reliable solution might be applied to almost any docking domain.
Indeed, autonomous docking is a long-standing and challenging problem for self-reconfigurable robots. The challenge lies in the fact that autonomous docking may be the only ability that enables all reconfigurable actions, and may need to be performed frequently and in different system configurations. Docking may need to be foolproof and support all of the interconnection needs of the system—from structural load bearing to communications and power sharing. Such docking systems may involve positioning the various modules correctly, then making a connection that must support as many modalities as needed in a particular application, and work in many, sometimes wet, dirty, and hostile environments. The problem of interconnection and interfacing may get much worse as the number of modalities involved increases. Furthermore, the components may need to make and break both multi-modal electrical and mechanical connections, in spite of being repeatedly connected and disconnected.
Autonomous docking may be critical to the success of metamorphic robots. Without a reliable solution to the problem, the true advantages of metamorphic robots may not be delivered to real-world applications and may remain a mathematical exercise exciting only scientific curiosity. After nearly ten years of research by the international community, autonomous docking is commonly believed to be among the most challenging problems in self-reconfigurable robots.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems and methods that can couple two disjointed structures and, additionally, eliminating the need for human-operation.